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Selected Poems

Eating Rattlesnake

I was sitting at my desk near midnight, when the hair on the back of my neck rose, and a chill ran down my spine. I think someone is standing somewhere a ways behind the cabin, watching me through the windows.

Doorways

November 17. Monday. The car didn’t start — again. We rode the bus. Manuel, in hat, was driving. He picked us up, leaving the students who were waiting to wait seven more minutes. I bet they hated me.

The Compassionate Heart

The philosopher Gurdjieff pointed out that if we wish to escape from prison, the first thing we must acknowledge is that we are in prison. Without that acknowledgment, no escape is possible.

Desire

Reluctantly he comes up the stairs, as if I am taking him away from much more exciting business than talking to his father. I am not sure exactly what to say. I do not want to damage his world of desire.

The Day Of Saint Valentine

And finally you’re a lady. You sleep with your cat, wash between your legs with washcloths, and go to the bathroom with the door closed. Lead weights fall on you.

Thesme And The Ghayrog

With exaggerated care Thesme rose to her knees, steadied herself, and crawled slowly toward the bed. She peered at the Ghayrog, but her eyes were blurred and she could make out only a rough outline of him.

Organic Gardening

You have watched your love kneeling, stretching, tugging weeds. Her muscles slide beneath her skin. She sweats where your tongue wants to be. And the good air fills you, and your body thrums from the inside out. You are an animal, naked in the grass, in the dirt. You are hot and you want.

Yellow Silk

Journal Of Erotic Arts

I’ve fallen in love with a magazine. Its name is Yellow Silk and its editor is Lily Pond. Does that sound improbable? Well, so is this unique and sassy literary journal, devoted exclusively to erotica, exuberantly different from all the other women’s and men’s magazines that sell sex.

Cousin Hans

Buddy has to cry out with all his force in his seven-year-old body, trying to get his father to believe that he has done nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all; and in this act of trying to convince him that he is not wrong, he is wrong, and must get punished for that.